Discussing politics and religion

[C.J.]

They said the media can sway the vote as much as 10% to 15%. Everybody is in lockdown and what information they are getting is controlled. I had to turn the news off because it’s not really news anymore. I’m glad the gal at McDonald’s told me about the gas shortage here in NC. Had to hit 2 different stations to top off my tank. Couple other guys had the gas run out on them while they were filling their rigs this morning.

 

[Floorist]

Missouri is the latest state to cut off the pandemic unemployment. Businesses all over the state are crying for help and no one wants to work.

 

[C.J.]

Missouri is the latest state to cut off the pandemic unemployment. Businesses all over the state are crying for help and no one wants to work.

Who the hell wants to work when you can literally make more money sitting on your ass at home. I’ve known plenty of people that would prefer to collect funemployment as opposed to working. Throw in some extra money on top of that and this is what the result looks like. Funny thing about those people milking funenployment is that they are all somehow magically able to find a job when the benefits run out. Maybe Missouri’s worker shortage problems are about to end?

 

[Floorist]

On another forum, a guy who lives in Tennessee said there are 5,000 job openings there in Brownsville and no one will apply.

 

[Floorist]

Who the hell wants to work when you can literally make more money sitting on your ass at home. I’ve known plenty of people that would prefer to collect funemployment as opposed to working. Throw in some extra money on top of that and this is what the result looks like. Funny thing about those people milking funenployment is that they are all somehow magically able to find a job when the benefits run out. Maybe Missouri’s worker shortage problems are about to end?

A guy here has been offering $15. an hour to start in construction with no experience. Raises as they learn. He can find no one.

 

[C.J.]

A guy here has been offering $15. an hour to start in construction with no experience. Raises as they learn. He can find no one.

Is that $15 as an employee or $15 as a 1099. Makes a big difference.

 

[Floorist]

Is that $15 as an employee or $15 as a 1099. Makes a big difference.

Employee.

 

[C.J.]

Might be time to up the starting wage. There’s a local hardwood company here hiring for a delivery position starting at $18/ hr. I gotta admit I was kinda impressed to see that. Or I suppose they could offer $15 and complain that nobody is applying for the job.

 

[havasu]

Australia is giving unemployment payments directly to businesses, so new hired people get a bonus only to work. No work, no pay.

 

[Floorist]

Might be time to up the starting wage. There’s a local hardwood company here hiring for a delivery position starting at $18/ hr. I gotta admit I was kinda impressed to see that. Or I suppose they could offer $15 and complain that nobody is applying for the job.

Average wage around here is less than $10. You can still buy a house for about $60,000

 

[Mark Brown]

Average wage around here is less than $10. You can still buy a house for about $60,000

I am packing right now!!!!!!
.... wait where are you??

 

[Floorist]

Missouri. Meth capital of the US.

 

[Mark Brown]

Excellent, I was always good at chemistry so I can get a cheap house AND start a small enterprise business. Thinks are looking up for Mark D. Brown.

Is Missouri really the meth capital of the United States?? Why?? Obviously it is not the cheap housing causing issues.

 

[C.J.]

Average wage around here is less than $10. You can still buy a house for about $60,000

It’s prolly the same here. I got my house for less than 50k. That’s why I was impressed that someone was willing to pay $18 (as an employee) to deliver boxes of wood. That’s decent money here. Nobody wants to do manual labor anymore. It’s been beaten into society’s head that you’re gonna go to college and get a ‘real’ job. Losers go into the trades. I’ve lived most of my life on the West Coast and I can assure you this mentality does exist.

So as messed up as it is I see this as the correction to that flawed mentality and gladly welcome it because if you’re gonna pay some brain dead POS $18 to schlep boxes of wood, that certainly makes what I bring to the table worth just that much more. Yeah it sucks for the dude that can’t find anybody at $15 but overall I see it as a win because now I, you and all the other skilled trades people are worth just that much more.

Think about it, you go to college and the majority of people will have a mountain of debt when they get out and start at the bottom to lower end of the pay grade for their job. Now take some kid that starts as an apprentice somewhere. 4 years later they should ( or at least could) be a journeyman making decent money and no student loan debt.

 

[Mark Brown]

...you and all the other skilled trades people are worth just that much more.

Except for reasons no one can explain install rates never really seem to go up but i like your sentiment.

I remember getting out of trade school with my ticket and calling an old friend who followed the "academic" path, needless to say that 40K or so in debt to land yourself a BA was really not required to sell furniture, or for that matter a buddy of mine sleeping on an air mattress for a month in my living room did not find much solace in the degree either.

Since I was 17 I have made more dollars an hour than I am years old and I hope that never ends, but I bet it wont, unless vinyl plank disappears and I live to over 100 and with my level of "health" at 37 I don't think I really need to worry about that.

 

[Floorist]

My 15 year old grandson is working 20-25 hours a week at Dairy Queen for $10 an hour. They work around his high school classes. He is looking at 40 hours a week for the summer. And they are short-handed. They are hiring everyone who applies.
Walmart is starting at $13 an hour and hiring the few that apply. The best restaurant in town is closed because he can't get enough staff to reopen. And yet there are several hundred here that are drawing enhanced unemployment.

 

[C.J.]

Except for reasons no one can explain install rates never really seem to go up but i like your sentiment

Move to Missouri or North Carolina or... quit doing everything but floating floors. Those rates are going up, or at least back to where they were but the product is easier to work with. I’ve never made such good money until I quit doing all the bullshit that doesn’t pay good money. I’m done with favors, I’m all outta red carpet and I’m not afraid to tell someone NO. Despite how that last sentence comes across, I do provide an excellent installation experience to my customers and my work is clean.

 

[C.J.]

My 15 year old grandson is working 20-25 hours a week at Dairy Queen for $10 an hour. They work around his high school classes. He is looking at 40 hours a week for the summer. And they are short-handed. They are hiring everyone who applies.
Walmart is starting at $13 an hour and hiring the few that apply. The best restaurant in town is closed because he can't get enough staff to reopen. And yet there are several hundred here that are drawing enhanced unemployment.

I work with a kid that started helping his dad here n there when he was 13. He’s 21? now and makes damn good money. He doesn’t have the years worth of tool acquisition yet but the skills and knowledge are in his head and he’s debt free.

 

[Mark Brown]

I couldn't agree more man. I started focusing on the stuff that made me lots more money, Flash coving, ceramic tile and showers, hardwood and well... plank. It might go down cheap but it goes down fast.
I haven't done more than probably 200 yards of stretch in in the past 2 years that come to mind and as for residential, to hell with it. I am at heart a commercial installer. I will cherry pick what I can for hardwoods and tile, but I have so little interest in carpet and sheet vinyl at a residential level. I would rather install 200 yards a day for 9 bucks a yard than 60 yards a day for 10 or 12, that it just easy math.

 

[C.J.]

I don’t even have a kicker in my van anymore, that’s how committed I am.